Minister of Fire2.

NULL

Here is a picture of the truck and trailer without sides. Trailer is 18' has brakes on both axles and it's GVWR is 8500lbs. It's primarily used as my car trailer. Please excuse the dirty truck, I drive 5 miles of dirt roads daily and this time of year it's hard to keep it clean! :-D

Member2.

NULL

hers an old Pic of my hauler from the first year I had the wood Boiler set up.
there's other of mine farther up this thread.
sorry about the shakey camera work but I think it makes for a neat pic
78 F150 Ranger Explorer.

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

hers an old Pic of my hauler from the first year I had the wood Boiler set up.
there's other of mine farther up this thread.
sorry about the shakey camera work but I think it makes for a neat pic
78 F150 Ranger Explorer.

Feeling the Heat2.

NULL

I do have Fergie though, a 1950's Fergusson TEa20 tractor (before Massey bought Fergusson, so pre the "Massey Fergusson" company) which still goes strong. No wheel brake pads left (well, it's more a problem of leaking fluid on the brake pads I haven't got time to fix) so have to gear down and choose down slope tracks wisely, but in low gear can pull a fully loaded 7' x 4' x 4' single axle car trailer over and through anything - hills, mud (but no snow around here to test her on that).

If I'm hauling distance - ie via roads as Fergie is not road-registered so just does the local neighbourhood roads - I use a family station wagon (Ford Falcon BA - Aussie only model I think, don't think the falcon's are sold in the US) 4.0litre straight 6 running on LPG. Brake early, cruise easy, no worries.

Member2.

NULL

I do have Fergie though, a 1950's Fergusson TEa20 tractor (before Massey bought Fergusson, so pre the "Massey Fergusson" company) which still goes strong. No wheel brake pads left (well, it's more a problem of leaking fluid on the brake pads I haven't got time to fix) so have to gear down and choose down slope tracks wisely, but in low gear can pull a fully loaded 7' x 4' x 4' single axle car trailer over and through anything - hills, mud (but no snow around here to test her on that).

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Good Day Mate! Your ‘Grey Fergie’ is the same vintage as my 1950 TO-30. A local to me guy has a couple fully restored TE-20s, which I understand the E to mean ‘England’ manufacture. (The ‘O’ in my TO means ‘Overseas’ i.e. made in the US.) So I assume your TEa means made in England for the Australian market? By the way, an oldtimer mechanic told me a quick fix for leaky fluid was to put some lithium grease in the leaky gearbox as it floats on top of the oil. (This was for the steering gearbox, which sits in front of the shift lever. Mine leaked oil out of the sides, where the ‘steering arms’ exit. Adding more oil just leaked out, but the ‘grease on top’ has been a good fix for a few years now.) I’m guessing this could work for your leak, which if it is getting the brakes wet sounds like transmission oil? (Disclaimer – I’m not a mechanic, I only pretend to be one on the internet!) ;-)Cheers!

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

By the way, an oldtimer mechanic told me a quick fix for leaky fluid was to put some lithium grease in the leaky gearbox as it floats on top of the oil. (This was for the steering gearbox, which sits in front of the shift lever. Mine leaked oil out of the sides, where the ‘steering arms’ exit. Adding more oil just leaked out, but the ‘grease on top’ has been a good fix for a few years now.) I’m guessing this could work for your leak, which if it is getting the brakes wet sounds like transmission oil? (Disclaimer – I’m not a mechanic, I only pretend to be one on the internet!) ;-)Cheers!

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I had an old John Deere LA that I packed the steering box with grease because the oil seal leaked. Not sure I'd want to try that on a tranny though as there are a lot more moving parts. I'd be more tempted to add an oil slinger to the shaft if there is room for it. A slinger is just a washer that directs the oil away from the shaft through centrifugal force. I'm not familiar with that tractor and don't know if a slinger would work.

Feeling the Heat2.

NULL

Wow, thanks for the tips! I thought my only option was to hoist the tractor up on blocks, remove the wheels (no easy feat as it's all manual labour here - did it once before to replace wheel bolts / studs that had sheared and that was a major mission), open 'er up and replace the seals, replace the brake pads whilst at it, and probably replace all fluids afterwards too. A local tractor mechanic shop quoted me $700 per wheel seal replacement, not sure how much of that other stuff they do as well, it wasn't worth $1400 to me, and it'll be a while before I find enough time to do it myself. But those quick fixes sound worthwhile looking into!

I'd heard that the "a" designation meant the engine was petrol, not diesel - but you could be right, as only in the last few years have Aussies embraced diesel for cars, tractors etc. Before that, like 1920 through to the 90's, we had a love affair with V8's for power running on petrol, as (apparently) our diesel was such a poor quality that diesel engines were crap for small machines. So the "a" could be both - petrol for the aussie market! Apparently we're unique like that, certainly Europe and the US had decently refined diesel, and we do now. Not that Fergie is a V8, she's a little 4 cylinder straight, apparently the same engine placed in Triumph sports cars in the 50's as well. Not that I've seen a Triumph sports car either . . . but I bet there are far more TEa20's running around still working or useable than Triumph sports cars!

I'm actually in awe of the old girl, courtesy of a city boy surfer's lack of tractor knowledge. A couple of years ago she pulled a 10 ton truck (22,00 lbs) which had become bogged, out of a muddy ditch and didn't break a sweat. She pulls small and medium trees (14" diameter and 60' tall) down - OK, she sweated hard on that one Low gear, big rope, no worries!

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

Here's the weekend's haul of truck, wood, and tractor. I run 50 miles to a remote woodlot and fall the trees, skid them, buck them to 3 foot lengths (2-18" rounds), and then haul them back. Trouble is that I can't haul much more than 2/3 cord in the truck when I have the tractor so I will make a seperate trip with just the trailer for the big loads of wood. Anytime I run out there whether to log, mow the site, or even camp, I plan to haul back at least the truckload.

Truck is 2000 F350 diesel with a 9900 lb GVWR and a 7500 lb empty weight. 700 or so lbs gets burned up with trailer tongue weight and the remainder is cargo capacity for wood. The springs only had about 1.5" to go before bottoming. These one tons sit high in the back under empty conditions. This trip used 9 gallons including tractor diesel so 25$ of fuel for the day. Note the sweet vertical stacking method. No wood will fall out of the truck.

Skidding tractor is a Kioti CK30 that I've put 765 hours on over the past few years. The tow bar arrangement is fantastic at lifting the log up off the ground for much easier dragging.

Wood load shown is 2 trees worth of red alder. Both were blown down and were not easy to get to for removal. 4 more trees were stacked in the deck for my next trip out.

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

Hey Highbeam, what about a weight-distributing hitch for the trailer, and running some of the wood on there with the tractor? Those look like 8-lug (aka 7K = 14K total) axles, I can't imagine after you deduct the tractor and tare weight on the trailer, that you wouldn't have some room for more weight? F-350 with a Class V hitch and weight distribution should let you tow the full 14K...?

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one with more firewood

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

Hi Moose, I have and use weight distribution with this trailer. The hitch system and the trailer are rated for 10k, and as shown the trailer weighs about 6500. The truck is rated to a GCWR of 20,000 and weighs 7500 leaving me 6000#s for wood hauling. If that is 2000 lbs in the bed than I could in theory stash another 3500 lbs on the trailer before hitting the first limit which would be the trailer's GVWR. Trouble would be safely lashing 3500 lbs of wood to the trailer without upsetting the proper balance (tongue weight) of the setup.

I made up some 2' tall OSB sides for the trailer but they utilize the stake pockets which are my chain points and on top of that, the tractor fills up most of the trailer. The dovetail sits outside of the boxed in part of trailer when sides are installed.

No, I think it will be either the tractor or firewood in the trailer as that tractor cost me a few bucks and I don't want to stack logs against it. I also am a little overly sensitive about logs falling off of the trailer while going down the highway.

The wheels have 6 lugs and are dexter 5200# axles with brakes. LR E tires.

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

Ah - I see! Makes sense, you're one of the few who I've seen use WDH with a cargo trailer, usually it's only RVs. I know what you mean about the wood falling off, it always seems to take a few miles of rough roads for the logs to settle right and then tighten the binders. Always reassuring to know that folks take the ratings seriously and are careful to tow within specs; white-knuckle towing just isn't that much fun once you've tried it. Good luck!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one with more firewood

Feeling the Heat2.

NULL

Im kinda bummed. there is a 20f t car hauler (bed over the wheels) for sale here for $450. It needs some floor boards replaced but overall looks to be in great condition. Id buy it but I have nowhere to store the monster. Just thought Id vent.

Minister of Fire2.

NULL

Hey there's always the lawn, right? There are so many things that I use my trailer for, for the few months when after we moved and mine was still back in CA I hadn't realized how much I used it. That's a heck of a deal to pass up, maybe you can trade hauling stuff for storage at a buddy's house?

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one with more firewood